The Return of Calvin Klein
by Ael L. Bolt
Summary: One Christmas, Doc gets an unexpected surprise. LPEastwood 1981.


The Return of Calvin Klein  
By Ael L. Bolt

Rating: G  
Genre: General  
Summary: One Christmas, Doc gets an unexpected surprise. LP/Eastwood 1981.

Author's Note: Just as an added note of amusement, I finished this fic at precisely 10:04 PM on a Saturday night. And I didn't plan it, either.

- - - - - - - - - -

"Hey Doc! Merry Christmas!"

Doc Brown looked up from his work at the unexpected call, and smiled when he saw who it was. "Marty! Merry Christmas to you too. Did you skateboard all the way across town in the snow again?" the scientist inquired as he set down his tools.

The fourteen-year old grinned sheepishly as Doc helped him brush the snow out of his hair. "Well, yeah," Marty admitted. "Dave took the car today and I wanted to come see you. I thought you might be lonely."

The elder man was touched at the teenager's remarkable sensitivity, as he often had been throughout the years. He had seen shades of it in the older Marty who had unexpectedly dropped into his life twenty-six years ago, but eleven days was not nearly enough time for him to realize the depth of Marty's compassion for an ostracized old man. But Marty didn't seem to think it was unusual at all. He never had.

"Whatcha making now?" Marty asked, startling him from his thoughts.

"Just repairing one of my clocks," Doc told him. "The pendulum was slightly warped, causing it to run slightly behind all the others. It should be almost fixed now."

Marty nodded as if he understood. "So what're you doing for Christmas?"

"Well, I don't have any plans, really," Doc replied absently as he cleaned up his workbench. "I don't exactly have family to visit with, you know…"

"Aw, come on Doc, surely you haven't forgotten me already?"

Doc froze at the hauntingly familiar voice, and slowly turned to see a man standing in the doorway. He looked to be in his forties, but there was no mistaking who he was. The man held out his arms. "What, no hug for me?" he asked sarcastically.

"Great Scott!" Doc gasped, his eyes practically bugging out of his head. "_Marty_?!"

"What?" the fourteen-year old asked in confusion, looking suspiciously at the newcomer. "Doc, who's that?"

"Oh, wow," the familiar stranger mumbled, then grinned. "Hey, you must be my namesake, Marty McFly," he said playfully. "I don't believe we've met. I'm…Calvin Klein, but everyone calls me Marty."

The teen's eyes lit up. "Oh! You're the guy from the Coast Guard that Grandpa hit with the car!" Marty held out his hand. "Nice to meet you."

Calvin winced, but shook the kid's hand. "Ah, yeah. That's me."

Doc finally recovered the use of his voice. "Marty…ah, Calvin…what are you doing here?" he demanded in shock.

"It's Christmas, I wanted to visit my favorite uncle," Calvin answered with a smirk. "Is that illegal now?"

"Of course not, but I just wasn't expecting you to be here," Doc stammered, still wildly thrown off by the sudden appearance of his 'nephew'. "Is something wrong?"

"Nah, just passing through town to pick up some stuff," Calvin said evasively. "Thought I'd let you know I was around, figured maybe I could keep you company for a bit."

Marty abruptly swore and grabbed his skateboard. "Damn! Sorry Doc, I just remembered, Dad promised to take me last-minute Christmas shopping and we've gotta get there before the stores close!"

"Okay," Doc replied, patting the teen on the shoulder. "Now remember, no skateboarding on icy roads and no car-surfing," he reminded the boy.

"Yeah, I know," Marty said in the tone of someone who has heard something far too many times. "See you tomorrow, Doc."

When Doc was absolutely sure that the boy was gone, he whirled around to face 'Calvin'. "Great Scott, Marty, what in the name of Sir Issac H. Newton are you _doing_ here?" he asked as he grabbed the man in a fierce hug.

"Just what I said," the time-traveler insisted. "I wanted to get Jennifer a gift, so I'm here to pick up…well, maybe I shouldn't tell you, you might give it away to her in the future." Marty's eyes twinkled mischievously. "But they don't make them anymore, so here's the only place I could get one, and I figured that as long as I was here, you could use the company. Though to be honest, I forgot that the other me would still be here, but he didn't recognize me so I guess it's all good. I'm the same age as I should be, according to how my parents remember 'Calvin Klein', so if I get seen there shouldn't be any problems."

Doc was speechless in amazement that Marty had cared enough to check in on him, even though he knew that this had happened thirty years ago for him. "Marty…I just…thank you."

Marty grinned. "No problem, Uncle Doc."

-----

The McFlys did indeed catch sight of the older Marty while he was in town, completely by accident. The time traveler was in a jewelry store at the time, looking for a present for Jennifer when he heard a familiar voice exclaim, "Calvin?!"

Marty grinned as he turned to see his mother. "Lorraine! What a surprise."

Lorraine looked more surprised that he would've thought as she looked him up and down. "Wow, I didn't think I'd ever see you again, even though you said we would…it's been what, twenty-four years?"

"And a few days," he agreed. "You look great."

She blushed slightly. "So do you. What've you been up to for all these years? You never write, you never call…it was like you dropped off the face of the Earth. I asked your uncle where you'd gone and he said he didn't know, that you'd shipped out and just vanished."

Marty quickly thought back, recalling his cover story of being in the Coast Guard. "I got thrown overboard during a storm and ended up on some nameless little island for awhile before I finally flagged down a passing ship. I worked for them for a few years, got dropped off in Mexico, and hitch-hiked all the way to the border of California, but then I met this girl…you know how it goes," he improvised with a small smile. "We've been married for the past fourteen years now."

"She sounds like a wonderful woman," Lorraine commented, clearly picking up on the love in his voice when he spoke of his wife. "Do you have any children?"

Marty pulled out his old, tattered wallet and gently tugged the photo of Marlene and MJ out for Lorraine to see. "This is my daughter Marlene, and my son MJ. They're twins."

Lorraine gave a predictable "awww" at the photo. The picture had been taken in 2008, when the ten-year old twins had fallen asleep on the couch while watching TV. Marlene was cuddled up against one end of the couch, and MJ was leaning against her with his head on her shoulder. "They're so cute," Lorraine gushed. "How old are they?"

"Thirteen, now," Marty told her, putting the photo back into his wallet. "I wish I could be with them, but duty calls," he added.

Lorraine looked taken aback. "You have to work on Christmas? That's so terrible! What kind of job would make you work over the holiday?"

Marty thought fast. There had been a blizzard and all the planes were grounded, with more snow expected… "I'm a commercial pilot," he fibbed casually. "But with the airports closed, I'm stuck in Hill Valley for now, so I'm picking up a little something for my wife in the hopes that she won't kill me for not being home." He gestured towards the display of jewelry. "Don't suppose you could help me pick something out? I'm hopeless with jewelry."

Lorraine giggled slightly. "Sure. You know, it's great to see you again, Marty. We named our third child after you, I'm not sure if you knew that."

Marty had to stifle a laugh. "Yeah, I know. We bumped into each other while he was over at my uncle's earlier today. Nice kid, if a little bit tactless. But he'll learn, don't worry. I have a good feeling about his future."

Lorraine froze as if she'd been slapped in the face. "...Marty?" she asked hesitantly, looking up from a necklace that she had been studying. "The night that you left…how did you know about our son Marty setting the rug on fire in 1976?"

"Oh, well, you know," he stammered, completely blindsided by the question. _Dammit, the younger me was such an idiot!_ "Sometimes you just get this feeling, like you know exactly what's gonna happen, you know what I mean?" he ad-libbed. "Like you just know that the phone is about to ring and it's your brother on the line, that sort of thing. Here," he said, abruptly changing the subject and pointing at a gold bracelet. "I think she'll like this one."

Beside him, Lorraine seemed to accept the explanation with only a hint of suspicion. As Marty made his purchase, she touched his arm lightly. "It was great to see you again," she said with a small smile. "But next time, don't drop out of touch for twenty-four years again, okay? Write us a letter occasionally or something."

Marty cringed inwardly. "Ah, sure. No problem."

-----

Doc pushed the door of his garage open and stomped the snow from his boots. _It's really snowing hard out there,_ he thought bemusedly, and brushed the white flakes out of his hair. He set a package down on his workbench, and caught sight of something that made him do a double-take.

Marty – the older one – had apparently come back from the store while Doc was out, and had curled up on the couch under a fuzzy blanket. That in itself was not that unusual, but he was not sleeping in the usual contorted position that Doc was accustomed to seeing him in. Rather, he was on his side, one leg hanging off the couch, and he was snuggled securely against a plain cardboard box with a strangely contented smile on his face.

Doc glanced at his clocks, surprised to see that Marty was asleep so early in the afternoon. He carefully stepped around piles of junk and leaned over the young man. "Marty," he called.

Marty jumped slightly in surprise, almost falling off the couch. "Wha? Oh, hi Doc," he mumbled sleepily, and blushed when he realized what he'd been cuddling with. "Umm…guess I was more tired than I thought."

"Do you do that often?" Doc couldn't resist teasing him, looking pointedly at the box.

Marty's blush deepened. "Um…sort of," he admitted sheepishly, sitting up and running a hand through his hair. "When I was a baby, the only toy I ever wanted to play with was a cardboard box. I used to take it everywhere with me and sleep with it at night, and…well, the habit never really wore off completely. I usually only do it when I'm not at home."

"I never saw you do that in 1955," Doc pointed out, incredibly amused at this new idiosyncrasy.

"Well, you must not've been paying too much attention, but then you didn't know me that well," Marty said with no small amount of embarrassment. "Anyway, I found what I was looking for, but with the way the snow's coming down, I won't be able to reach the time machine until tomorrow."

Doc hid a grin at Marty's blatant changing the subject, but humored him. "Where did you park the DeLorean this time?" he inquired out of curiosity.

Marty froze for just an instant, but Doc noticed it anyway. "Ahh…the time machine's hidden out behind the school," he said, but Doc noticed what he _wasn't_ saying. _Hmm…perhaps the time machine was damaged?_ he wondered. _If it could not be repaired, it stands to reason that it would have been built out of something else by now…or rather, _will be _built out of something else._

"I'll drive you out there tomorrow," Doc offered.

-----

The next day, the snow had stopped falling and everything was sparkling white. Doc braked gently, bringing his new, partially-modified DeLorean to a halt at the edge of the school parking lot in the early hours of the morning. "You sure this is here you left the time machine?" he asked in concern, looking around at the empty lot. "I don't see anything."

Marty grinned as he opened the door. "Nah, you wouldn't. It's hidden under holographic disguise, so no one would see anything they shouldn't." He grabbed his small parcel and stepped out of the car. "Don't worry," he assured the scientist. "I'll drop it long enough for you to see me time travel, okay?"

"Sure," Doc said, reassured by the idea of a holographic imaging system. _Absolutely amazing…he must come from a time of real technological marvels._

Marty closed the DeLorean door, and walked straight for an empty parking space twenty feet away. He lifted a small remote-like item, and the air shimmered before revealing a beautifully-crafted silvery sports-car with a distinctly futuristic feel to it and a Buick logo on the trunk. There was even a spoiler on it, with no sign of the cooling jets that Doc planned to install on the DeLorean. _There must be more efficient heat dispersal in the future,_ Doc thought absently as he gazed upon the vehicle in awe, taking in the word _Windrider_ inscribed on the doors.

Marty opened the car's door, and Doc laughed as he noticed the gull-wing design of the doors. _My future self must find that design as amusing as I do,_ he mused as he watched Marty climb in. The time traveler gave him the thumbs up and a smile as he saw the scientist watching.

The Windrider gracefully lifted off the ground with hardly a sound, soft lights glowing underneath as the wheels folded down on their sides. The time machine accelerated quickly across the sky, and with a burst of bright blue and three sonic booms, it vanished, leaving a pair of flaming trails across the early morning sky. The flames faded rapidly, leaving no trace of his once and future friend.

Doc shook his head as he shifted gears. _That boy is truly a miracle,_ he said to himself. _For him to be my friend, and twice…why, I must be the luckiest man on Earth._

Smiling, he drove back to his garage.


End file.
